John Gay: Beggar's Opera

A parody of the love story of two women for a famous highwayman in one of English playwright John Gay's most famous comedies. The English playwright John Gay (1685-1732) was a highly acclaimed poet of his time, the creator of opera libretti, for example for Georg Friedrich Handel, and the author of several plays, the most famous of which is The Beggar's Opera. The story of his play revolves around the love of two women, not for a gallant hero, but for a famous robber. The other actors are thieves, prostitutes, traffickers, a salesman prison warden, etc. Here Gay has created a witty parody not only of the rigid artistic conventions of his time, of sentimental novels, pastoral plays and romantic ballads, but also of the stale Italian operatic manner.